Tracking

October 2011

October 31, 2011

I have had a busy few days and they have left me thinking about leadership and more specifically effective leadership qualities. What makes a great business or community leader?

Is it someone who leads by the dominance of their personality and because they singlemindedly believe their ideas are the only ones that will work?

Is it someone who delegates to individuals those tasks they think that those individuals can manage whilst retaining other decisions that only they will make?

Is it someone who leads through mediation?

Mediation is about leading through reaching mututal agreement that the final decision is the right one for everyone around the table. It is not about leading by compromise, appeasement or dumbing down, far from it! Mediation leadership is about valuing everyone's ideas and reaching consensus after discussion that the final conclusion or action plan is valid and owned by all.

Mediation leadership is about dialogue and communication, qualities that can be lacking in some organisations but underpin others. Mediation is about identifying areas of current or potential conflict in a management team, or the wider business environment and determining strategies to manage the issues effectively. Mediation leadership requires personal skills such as flexible thinking, an ability to communicate, empathy, patience, optimism and an ability to listen, but ultimately make a firm decision based on the ideas that they have heard as well as their own beliefs. It also requires leaders to be able to articulate why certain ideas were not taken forward at the close. A leader who says that they haven't got time to listen to those around them is a leader who may end up without any followers!

October 30, 2011

Ernest Hemingway said "Never confuse movement with action!" In our organisations we are often surrounded by seemingly very busy people, but are they actually being effective?

How do we measure effectiveness and performance of organisations, departments, teams or individuals? Maybe by the length of their working day, or the volume of emails, reports they produce, but are these good measures of effectiveness?

Every individual, team or organisation should develop business performance indicators that are appropriate to respective roles and responsibilities, but what should we measure? Here are some ideas:

Develop financial measures include return on capital, equity, or investment or operating efficiency;

Reward results not activities;

Assess behavioural change for positive or negative trends;

Monitor customer and employee satisfaction with performance;

Analyse how tasks and activities can be done better and improve outdated practices.

After all being effective is essentially being able to produce the intended result!

October 29, 2011

Mahatma Gandhi said that "You must be the change you wish to see in the world." I remember saying to a friend once that "We must be the people we want our children to be", pretty much the same sentiment. But how do we lead by example in order to implement change? It is not always easy especially if you, as the leader at a particular moment in time don't know exactly where you are going and what others reactions will be when they meet hurdles they believe they cannot overcome. Managing change is about having a structured approach so that you can manage the transition from where you are to where you intend to be. Effective change management requires the engagement and assistance of the people involved and can be defined as follows:

Clarity - making sure all employees are aware that change is going to occur

History - communication of why the change is needed and what will happen if nothing is done

Awareness - of what needs to be done i.e. mapping the journey

Network - implementing a management and resource base to support the journey

Goals - identifying the destination using clear goals and objectives

Empathy - understanding the impact of the journey on others

CHANGE!

I first wrote this post in June 2007 and it still holds nearly four and a half years later.

October 28, 2011

The Telegraph reports that the price of a cup of tea could rise by as much as 7% next year, according to analysts, if an anticipated drought in Kenya wipes out the majority of the crop.

The East African country is one of the world’s top five producers of tea – the other four are India, China, Sri Lanka and Indonesia – and over half of Britain’s tea comes from the region. However, the droughts that have affected over 13 million people across this part of Africa have also devastated export crops.

October 24, 2011

Britain is facing an epidemic of podgy pets being fed junk food, according to a leading animal charity. Up to 12 million cats, dogs and rabbits are being given "treats" of takeaways, crisps, cheese and cakes every day, according to a survey of 11,000 pet owners by the People's Dispensary for Sick Animals. Sean Wensley, PDSA senior veterinary surgeon, said: "Many owners may think that their favourite treats are harmless to pets. This is not the case. Unsuitable diets containing lots of unhealthy items are linked to medical conditions including diabetes."

October 23, 2011

The life expectancy gap between the north and south of Britain has widened further. While people are living longer in the UK on average, children born in the South of England statistically have a longer life ahead of them than those brought up in Scotland and the North. A boy from the affluent London borough of Kensington and Chelsea can expect to survive for 13.5 years longer than a boy in Glasgow, figures from the Office for National Statistics show. On average, life expectancy at birth has gone up – from 77 years to 78.2 for men and from 81.3 years to 82.3 years for women.